Christ’s resurrection was His transfiguration into the life-giving Spirit in order to enter into His believers (1 Cor. 15:45b). The last Adam, Christ, became the life-giving Spirit in resurrection. We know that it was in resurrection that the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit by the fact that the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 15 is on resurrection. The context of this chapter proves that it was in resurrection that Christ became the life-giving Spirit.
In John 14:16 and 17 the Lord Jesus speaks of another Comforter, even the Spirit of reality. The word “another” indicates that the Lord, the One speaking, is a Comforter. If He were not a Comforter, then He would not have said that He would ask the Father to send another Comforter. If we read John 14:16-20 carefully, we shall see that, eventually, the second Comforter is actually the first Comforter as the Spirit. In verse 17 the Lord says that the Spirit of reality will be in the disciples. Then in verse 18 He continues, “I will not leave you orphans; I am coming to you.” The “He” who is the Spirit of reality in verse 17 now becomes the “I,” the Lord Himself, in verse 18. This indicates that after His resurrection the Lord would become the Spirit of reality. Furthermore, the Lord speaks of another Comforter in verse 16 and then says in verse 20, “In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” Here the Lord again reveals that He Himself would be in the disciples as the Spirit, as the life-giving Spirit in resurrection.
Christ became the Spirit through death and resurrection. According to 1 Corinthians 15:45b, Christ, the last Adam, became the life-giving Spirit. On the day of His resurrection Christ breathed into His disciples and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). We may say that Christ already was the Spirit when He was in the flesh. The difference here is that His flesh was a covering comparable to a shell. Through death and resurrection the opaque shell of the flesh became transparent. Therefore, now we can see that the Lord is the Spirit. Through death and resurrection the last Adam in the opaque shell of the flesh became the life-giving Spirit. This is still the same Jesus, but now the shell is transparent. The One who was with the disciples is the same One who is now the life-giving Spirit.
Christ’s resurrection includes the fact that He, the last Adam, the One who is the Lamb of God, the Redeemer, has become the life-giving Spirit. Both the Redeemer and the life-giving Spirit are precious. For our enjoyment we need the Redeemer and the life-giving Spirit. We treasure both the Redeemer and the life-giving Spirit. In death the Lord Jesus was the Lamb, the Redeemer, and in resurrection He is the life-giving Spirit.
In resurrection Christ comes to us as the Spirit, as the pneumatic Christ (John 20:19-22). Not only has Christ become the life-giving Spirit, but when He comes to us, He comes as the Spirit. He comes as the pneumatic Christ.
The Lord Jesus came to His disciples as the pneumatic Christ on the day of His resurrection. In chapter twenty of the Gospel of John, the Lord came to His disciples, who were in a place where the doors were shut, as the pneuma. The Greek word pneuma means spirit; it also means breath or air. In John 1 Christ is the Lamb, but in John 20, after His death and in His resurrection, He is the pneumatic Christ. The first time He came, He came as the Lamb of God. The second time He came as the pneuma. According to John 20:22, “He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.” This indicates that the Lord came to the disciples as breath.
When we receive Christ today, we receive the pneumatic Christ. This means that we receive not only the redeeming Christ but also the life-giving Christ. Day by day we are enjoying not only the redeeming Christ but also the life-giving Christ, the pneumatic Christ.
To say that Christ is the pneumatic Christ means that He is full of divine breath. Just as a car tire must be pneumatic, that is, full of air, so every Christian should be pneumatic, full of heavenly breath. In our daily life we should not be “flat,” short of divine breath.
Our spiritual breath is the life-giving Spirit. In resurrection Christ has come to us as this Spirit, the pneuma. The Lord became the pneumatic Christ through resurrection. Now in resurrection our Christ, the Redeemer, is the pneumatic Christ, the life-giving Spirit.